Legends of Red Sonja #5 finishes the tale with a flourish.
It starts out with “The Pazyryk” written by Blair Butler with art by Jim Calafiore and then to “The Play’s the Thing” written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Valentine Delandro. Surrounding and finishing this is Simone’s overarching frame story with art by Jack Jadson.
“The Pazyryk,” one of the trackers sent to hunt Red Sonja remembers how he started as a mercenary, back when his mother was killed by raiders. His memories shape and bleed into the following story of his encounter with Red Sonja, forming a suitable frame and adding a note of kismet to the proceedings. Calafiore’s art is, as is now expected in this series, very much part of the story. His Red Sonja is lithe and active, almost feral in her movements. The coloring here is intense as well.
Jadson’s intervening art is given a darker, more somber coloration as the trackers briefly consider the possible outcome of their hunt before opting to continue.
“The Play’s the Thing” is a humorous tale with a dark edge as a group of players recount Red Sonja’s recent visit to their camp and take their own revenge for the tracker’s redness. Delandro balances the humor and the edge both in the artwork. Everyone is just slightly exaggerated, hovering on the edge of being comic but not pushing over into distortion.
Finally Simone and Jadson wrap the tale with the hunt’s conclusion, complete with cameos from those seen along the way. The whole is an excellent finish to a most enjoyable series.
In these five issues, Simone has recruited writers Nancy A. Collins, Devin Kalile Grason, Meljean Brook, Tamora Pierce, Leah Moore, Nicola Scott, Mercedes Lackey, Rhianna Pratchett, Marjorie M. Liu, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Blair Butler with and artists Noah Salonga, Carla Speed McNeil, Mel Rubi, Tula Lotay, Doug Holgate, Cassandra James, Nei Ruffino, Phil Noto, Naniiebim, Valentine Delandro, and Jim Calafiore to tell the tale with her and artist Jack Jadson, It’s been a great way to see the character through different eyes, and I, for one, am sorry to see the volume end, even in so fitting a fashion.